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Industry News – AM USDA to solicit comments on second beef checkoff By Tom Johnston on 10/29/2014 USDA said it will move ahead with its plan to create a separate beef checkoff in the absence of consensus from the industry as to how to overhaul the existing program. The agency will file a notice in…

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By Julie Harker The head of R-CALF USA says the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and affiliates are engaged in unlawful lobbying in a letter urging Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack to abandon his plans for a second beef checkoff program. Bill Bullard tells Brownfield the NCBA and 45 of its state affiliates are prohibited from…

Group Says NCBA’s Claims Against COOL Are Baloney Billings, Mont. – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), which receives 82 percent of its annual revenues from government-mandated producer assessments under the national Beef Checkoff Program, is most likely using those government payments to offset the costs of its three-prong campaign to defeat country of origin…

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International COOL Ruling Runs Afoul of U.S. Court Decisions Billings, Mont. – The much anticipated ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding whether country of origin labeling (COOL) passes muster with the international tribunal was finally made public today. The U.S. COOL law requires retailers to inform consumers as to the origins of meat….

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WTO finds US COOL rule still trade distorting By Jacqui Fatka Published on: Oct 20, 2014 As expected in previously leaked reports, the World Trade Organization again sided with Canada and Mexico who challenged the United States’ mandatory country of origin labeling rule for beef and pork. The final ruling is part of an ongoing…

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Dueling Beef Taxes I have been trying to wrap my mind around Secretary Vilsack’s proposal for dueling beef taxes – a new tax running in parallel with the old beef tax and producers paying twice. I have a problem with the old NCBA run beef tax. It is not that I oppose the goals of…

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Defending Beef The Case for Sustainable Meat Production By Nicolette Hahn Niman Pub Date: November 3, 2014 The manifesto of an environmental lawyer and vegetarian turned cattle rancher For decades it has been nearly universal dogma among environmentalists and health advocates that cattle and beef are public enemy number one. But is the matter really…